Rev. Moon charged with overfishing

KODIAK - The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, head of the Unification Church, and his wife have been charged with catching too many fish while on a visit to Alaska.

Moon, 80, of Irvington, N.Y., is scheduled for a Sept. 15 arraignment in Kodiak on charges of taking more than the legal limit of coho salmon from Marka Bay on Afognak Island.

Moon was cited Aug. 25 by officers from the state Division of Fish and Wildlife Protection, who said they were acting on a tip. Also cited on the same charge was Moon's wife Hak Ja Han, 47.

Moon and Han were fishing from the shore, along with about a dozen others, according to the officers who issued the citation. The officers watched Moon take 10 coho salmon, twice the legal limit for that remote area. Han took six cohos, one above the limit, the trooper said.

The Unification Church is the largest taxpayer and the largest private employer in Kodiak, one of the nation's busiest fishing ports. It owns, among other assets, a fleet of fishing boats and a fish-processing plant on the island.

A spokesman for the church's Kodiak congregation said Moon was still in Kodiak, but was not available to comment on the fishing charges.